California sheriff condemns ‘violent protests,’ downplays masks in Tea Party talk
Editor’s note: The video of Sheriff Ian Parkinson speaking to the North San Luis Obispo County Party embedded below is now unavailable to view because it has been made private. A transcript of Parkinson’s speech has been attached to the bottom of the article.
A video showing elected San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson questioning nationwide Black Lives Matter protests and taking a laissez-faire approach to the mandatory wearing of face masks in public is generating backlash from residents on social media.
In the video, filmed July 6, 2020, at a meeting of the North San Luis Obispo County Tea Party and posted to YouTube, Parkinson tells the crowd to use “personal responsibility” to protect against the spread of coronavirus, which as of Monday had infected more than 1,300 residents.
But he leaves it up to each person to decide what that means to them.
“This is your responsibility,” Parkinson said, holding up a surgical face mask. “If you chose to wear one, great for you. If you chose not to wear one, great for you.”
The sheriff also said that he will not hand out fines to enforce COVID-19 mandates in the county.
As Parkinson talks about his views on COVID-19 protections, a member of the audience can be heard having a coughing fit. Neither Parkinson nor another attendee seen in the video frame are wearing masks at the indoor meeting. It’s unclear how many people attended the meeting, although Parkinson’s points were met with robust applause at times.
The sheriff’s remarks run counter to the recommendations of the county Public Health Department and a mandate by Gov. Gavin Newsom requiring face coverings in indoor public places and businesses.
This was also the second time Parkinson has addressed publicly the protests that erupted following the alleged murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police. Parkinson also mentioned the demonstrations and anti-police sentiments in June following the shooting spree in Paso Robles in which four officers were injured.
“When are we going to stop this? When are we going to stop letting people take over neighborhoods and communities?” Parkinson said. “I said, look, you know what, any of the cities have that happen, guess what? The sheriff’s coming to town with the posse — it’s not going to happen.”
Through his department spokesman Monday, Parkinson declined to be interviewed about the video, but he responded to emailed questions saying he was only referring to “violent protests.”
Dr. Penny Borenstein, the county public health officer, and county chief administrative officer Wade Horton did not respond when emailed for comment on Parkinson’s remarks related to COVID-19.
Borenstein has recommended that residents wear face coverings when in public places.
Take ‘personal responsibility’ to prevent COVID-19 spread, sheriff says
In the video, Parkinson tells the crowd that wearing a mask is a personal choice, and that he’s “not going to make criminals out of law-abiding citizens.”
“If you feel that you’re in danger, what are your choices? Don’t go to the beach, don’t go into rooms with other people that you’re not family with. You have those choices to make,” Parkinson said, bringing up recent beach closures in neighboring counties during Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends.
Parkinson also said that he personally wears a mask while grocery shopping because “if I’m not wearing that mask somebody’s going to take a picture of me and I’m going to be on the front of the local paper.”
He said that ahead of July 4 weekend, he was informed that the Governor’s Office planned to close all beaches statewide, and that Parkinson told colleagues that he would not enforce San Luis Obispo County beach closures.
“Take a look at the hotels. They’re already booked. The whole Central Valley is over here for Fourth of July, they always do,”
he said. “I had a sheriff from the Central Valley call me and he said, ‘Hey, you’re not closing the beaches, are you?’ Nope. And he said, ‘Good, because I have a house over there and I’m coming over.’”
Asked by email Monday whether his message contradicts that of the county Public Health Department, Parkinson did not directly answer the question. But he wrote that “people need to wear their masks and protect themselves.”
“They need to take personal responsibility,” he wrote. “There are several exemptions for medical reasons, and people need to recognize that there are people that can’t wear masks.”
He wrote that the Sheriff’s Office is conducting compliance checks at county businesses every day.
“I do not agree with writing somebody an expensive ticket, unless they are non-compliant or it is egregious. We have found our compliance has been very good,” he wrote. “There are still a lot of people that don’t understand the guidance or understand that there are medical exemptions. I cannot have deputies force them to disclose their private medical conditions. This is where self-policing comes in.”
He added: “I believe the governor’s message has been for people to voluntarily support and follow. I have not heard him take a hard stance on enforcement, except businesses.”
Sheriff said protests served no purpose ‘other than destruction’
When the video begins, Parkinson is discussing the public support his deputies have received as a result of the protests, which began in early June and are opposed to systemic racism and police violence.
In the clip, Parkinson says that, as a “constitutional officer,” he supports protesters’ First Amendment right to assemble, a statement that was met with applause.
But he said what “absolutely drives me crazy” is “the vandalisms, the riots, the burning, the trashing of monuments — all that stuff just bothers the hell out of me, and I just don’t get it.”
“This is so incredibly important right now because of the negative messages ... and how hard it is for a local police officer, deputy sheriff to work a protest and have a 24-year-old white person tell you you are a racist and yell at you based on an event that didn’t occur in this county, that didn’t occur in this state,” Parkinson said, referring to Floyd.
“If you watch, again, young white people yelling at black police officers, I don’t get it,” Parkinson said. “Did we forget that fact that they’re black?”
Parkinson said “there is no endgame” to the protests and “no purpose, other than destruction.”
“I said the only thing I know about prejudice is when I put on a uniform and somebody doesn’t like me because I’m wearing a uniform,” he said in the video. “I do understand in areas that have heavy minority communities how they might feel that way, but here in San Luis Obispo we’re being trashed by this issue of something that truly is not here in that form.”
After talking about “lawless behavior” he attributed to the protests, Parkinson said other goals of Black Lives Matter such as “defunding” police — or reallocating some police funding toward social services — are going to “backfire.”
“I think it’s already starting to do it, and it’s unfortunate because the result is going to be people like you being killed because of the lack of ability to protect,” Parkinson told the crowd.
Parkinson clarifies comments on protests
On Monday afternoon, in response to a question about his “just don’t get it” comment and whether he’s reached out to protest groups, Parkinson said he has met with them.
“I understand it and have met with several different people and groups,” Parkinson wrote. “My issue has only been with those who blame law enforcement agencies in San Luis Obispo County for some horrible events that did not happen here.”
Asked about his comments on not witnessing local racism, Parkinson clarified that “racism is everywhere,” but that he’s “never seen any indication that systemic racism exists in this county.”
“As I have said, no matter what level exists, we can always work to be better by education, inclusiveness and to take a stand against it,” Parkinson said.
Asked about why he said there were no purposes to the protests “other than destruction,” Parkinson said he was “referring to the acts of violence that have occurred all over the nation.”
“I have always expressed support for the First Amendment and peaceful expression,” he said.
Lastly, asked about his “posse” comment, Parkinson said he was “only referring to violent protests.”
“We have had several protests in the county area and have had no acts of violence,” he wrote. “As a matter of fact, we have met with the organizers and had great cooperation and great results by them.”
Reactions to the video vary
The Tribune sent email requests for comment on the video to each county supervisor. Only District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson responded, saying that Parkinson’s comments were “concerning.”
“His comments looked to be directed at a narrow political constituency. Among those comments were ones that are quite concerning to me, regarding the enforcement of state and local (COVID-19) orders,” Gibson said. “I think that he needs to explain those comments to the wider public.”
Representatives from RACE Matters SLO, one of two local nonprofits that have largely organized the majority of local protests and marches, declined to comment on the video.
But Rev. Stephen Vines, president of the San Luis Obispo County Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told The Tribune he was appalled by Parkinson’s comments, which Vines says shows that the highest law enforcement official in the county is out of touch with current events.
Vines said that since the local Black Lives Matter events began in early June, the local NAACP has reached out to meet with Parkinson but has not received a response.
Vines said the video clip shows that Parkinson is politically partisan and was playing to a like-minded audience at the meeting.
“He’s supposed to be the sheriff for everybody, not just the conservatives,” Vines said. “He might as well have just put on a Confederate flag (during the speech).”
As of Monday afternoon, postings of the clip on Black Lives Collaborative and SLO County Protest Watch, a community Facebook group that tracks Black Lives Matter and associated groups’ events and demonstrations, had each generated dozens of comments criticizing Parkinson for his statements.
“This guy is completely delusional,” wrote Melinda Ribnek.
“Encouraging others not to wear a mask,” wrote Craig Johnson. “He preaches that people should do time for their actions then turns around and encourages people to do something that’s legit killing people.”
One user wrote that they reported the video to the county Public Health Department as a violation of the county’s coronavirus safety measures.
Randall Jordan, chair of the Republican Party of San Luis Obispo County, was in attendance at the July 6 meeting. He told The Tribune Monday that he personally agrees “with everything said by Sheriff Parkinson.”
“This COVID scare is blown way out of proportion,” Jordan wrote in an email. “Hospitals are reporting everything from a routine procedure to a heart attack as COVID-related to inflate the numbers.”
Asked about Parkinson’s views on the Black Lives Matter movement, Jordan said that most of the local Republican Party membership “also agree that Black Lives Matter protests are another vehicle to undermine our society and change the power base in our country.”
“Our group will fight this effort as vehemently as we can,” Jordan wrote.
Jason Anderson, chair of the North County Tea Party, did not respond to a request for comment.
Ian Parkinson video transcript:
“It’s been tremendous the amount of support that has come as a result of this for law enforcement.
And I’ll tell you, one of the reasons this is so incredibly important right now is because of the negative messages that are going around right now and how hard it is for a local police officer, deputy sheriff to work a protest and have a 24-year-old white person tell you that you are a racist and yell at you based on an event that didn’t occur in this county, that didn’t occur in this state. It’s very hard for them to remain professional, remain supportive of their constitutional right, it has been challenging at times, quite frankly.
There’s no dialogue, it’s a very difficult subject to talk about, when you talk about race issues, Black Lives Matter, because if you say something wrong, somebody takes it another way, so it makes it very hard for your average citizen that supports law enforcement to jump on and say ‘Yes, I support law enforcement,’ because, quite frankly, somebody might say something to them and somebody might turn it around so it almost encourages silence among your supporters.
And I think when we were going through the protests thus far, I think people would support, but I think they were feeling that pressure, that pressure of not being able to talk, share your opinion because you might be deemed racist or against the movement.
It’s gotten obviously extremely bad in the country. I’m going to kind of talk about that in just a second.
Look, as a constitutional officer, I support the constitution and they do have a constitutional right. But I can tell you that it absolutely drives me crazy with what’s being done across this nation, the vandalisms, the riots, the burning, the trashing of monuments all that stuff just bothers the hell out of me and I just don’t get it. I don’t get it.
You can’t erase how we got here and yeah, there’s things that we all might be bothered by in history but I don’t think it’s being driven by that.
I mean, if you watch again young, white people yelling at black police officers, I don’t get it. Did we forget that fact that they’re Black? That they’re Hispanic or whatever they are? They’re being told by what they deem as white privilege that these people are not worthy and it’s because they wear a uniform.
My chief pathologist for the coroner’s unit, she is well-traveled, she is an amazing, amazing doctor, and she happens to be Black. And I had a conversation with her and I said, ‘Look, I’m just kind of dumbfounded by this. I don’t want to be naive, but why is all this happening when there is no endgame? There is no purpose other than destruction.’ And I said ‘The only thing I know about prejudice is when I put on a uniform and somebody don’t like me because I’m wearing a uniform. And it doesn’t matter what nationality you are, it doesn’t matter any of those things, you’re still that person. I have the benefit of taking off the uniform and there is a difference so I truly don’t understand it.’
I do understand in areas that have heavily minority communities that might feel that way, how they might feel that way, but here in San Luis Obispo, we’re being trashed over this issue of something that truly is not here in that form. And even when I’ve had that conversation with the groups, I said, ‘Look, you want to have that conversation, let’s sit down and talk. Let’s talk about what can we do better as a community, not what have we done wrong. Let’s talk about what we can do better as a community, because there’s always better.’
Maybe we are not as inviting. Maybe there’s areas where minorities are not comfortable. I totally get that and have no issue with it, but that doesn’t even seem to be something they’re willing to talk about. And I’m not saying all, that’s a pretty general statement, but a lot of the ones that we deal with, the ones that we deal with on the front lines. It’s a struggle.
So on top of dealing with all this, of course, we began this saga with COVID, and the challenges with COVID. The interesting this is the reaction to some of the things with COVID directly attaches to some of the things that are happening with this Black Lives Matter movement. And I say that because if you look at the movement in its purest form, where people are upset and they have a right to protest, no problem with that. But as a result of the combination of COVID and this, what we’ve done is we’ve released soon to be some 5,000 inmates from state prison in California, 20,000 across jails in California, and we’ve done all that because we fear that they might get COVID in the jails and prisons.
Look, I can tell you we don’t have one case of COVID in the jail and we’ve tested nearly every single inmate. We don’t have one case of COVID in our employees and they can get tested anytime they want, and many of them have. We’re very fortunate.
Could we get it tomorrow? Maybe I jinxed myself but that’s the way it is, that is the way it is.
But where they come together, the way I see it, is personal responsibility. It boils down to personal responsibility, We have changed laws in this country over the past several years that dismiss personal responsibility. ‘It’s somebody else’s fault, these people did not get enough from us and that’s why they’re in jail now because we didn’t do enough for them.’ And the truth is, that’s wrong. They’re in there because they did something.
So when we talk about the two, it goes right back to personal responsibility.
Whose responsibility is this? (Parkinson said while holding up a mask).
Absolutely. Individually, this is your responsibility. If you chose to wear one, great for you, if you chose not to wear one, great for you.
So I have to tell you, back when this thing started we were told directly from Sacramento that they were closing all the California beaches. That was it. Beaches are closed. This was the right way to go.
And I found out about it of course and I met with the people in our command post and I said, ‘Look, I got to tell you this, I’m not going to make criminals out of law-abiding citizens.’
So we are releasing inmates from jail and prison and now I’m supposed to fill up with you guys because you guys are doing what you’re supposed to do.It made no sense, it makes zero sense to me.
Hey look, I understand the underlying cause, if you need to protect yourself, protect yourself. You’re not being told not to protect yourself, but you have a personal choice to make and a personal responsibility for yourself, your family and everybody else around you. That’s a choice you have to make.
And the challenge is, we’ve continued to add new things in here. And look, I’ll be honest with you, I go to a grocery store, I put on a mask and I’m wearing that mask because if I’m not wearing that mask, somebody’s going to take a picture of me and I’m going to be on the front page of the paper being this guy. And I accept personal responsibility for that.
And I have my own personal views, but it’s not about me, it’s about you individually and making those choices and protecting yourself, and we’ve taken that away and we’ve made it sound as though those are the real criminals on the street, not the people that we’re releasing from the jail that are re-offending immediately and coming right back in.
But I think that when I heard about the beaches I’m like, ‘You know what, can’t do it.’ I went and talked with them and I said, ‘Look, here’s the bottom line, you know that being outside in the clean air does two things for you. Number one, you’re not going to be exposing people as easily as in a small room. Second, it is good for people. They need to be outside, enjoying themselves for their mental illness, mental health, for their physical health, all those things. That’s important, that’s what keeps people healthy.’ And if you want to do that, you should be able to do it, we should encourage people to do it, not discourage people to do it.
We talked, you know the counties closed around us closed their beaches. You know, Monterey and Santa Barbara closed their beaches on Thursday. Thursday they closed them and guess what, that sent panic through the county. That ‘Oh my gosh, everybody’s closed around us and everybody’s going to come to San Luis because we’re the open beach’ I had the same conversation going into the wee hours of Thursday night saying, ‘Look,’ talking to the CAO, talking to all the city managers saying, ‘Look, fundamentally you agreed with me and that’s why you chose, you were prepared not to push closing the beaches originally,’
And they, in the eleventh hour, Sacramento pulled that off the table and just slapped it onto Orange County. And I felt personally this was the same fundamental issue of health and well being for our people, and personal responsibility.
The only thing that changed really is that, who else would come? Well I told them, ‘Why don’t you take a look at hotels, they’re already booked.’ I mean the whole Central Valley’s over here for Fourth of July. They always do, everybody comes over here.
I have a Sheriff from the Central Valley call me and go, ‘Hey you’re not closing the beaches are you?’ [Laughs] ‘No.’ And he says, ‘Good because I’m coming over.’ ‘I knew you were asking for personal reasons.’
So my point is, what more are you going to attract? Outsiders were already committing to being here. And now you just booked a place to stay to get your mind right, to get a couple days off, and then you get here and you go guess what, you can’t go to the beach, stay indoors, enjoy everybody in a block party together inside. Like it makes no sense.
But here’s the bottom line, if you feel that you’re in danger, what are your choices? Don’t go to the beach. Don’t go into rooms with other people that you’re not family with. You have those choices to make, and I think we dismissed that again.
And I think we were fortunate. I think it took courage on the part of the beach communities and our county CAO to say, ‘You know what, I agree and that’s what we’re going to do.’ And I said ‘Look, I said all along that I’m not making criminals out of people.’
But here’s the way the law works, I get a new law and they can say, Here’s the new laws that you have to do,’ and I say, ‘That’s great, what level of enforcement am I going to do?’
And that is ‘Hey sir, it’s probably a good idea to wear a mask in a grocery store.’ But I can’t ask you if you have health concerns or any other reason that exempts you. Hey, it’s great to go to the restaurant, and guess what, you don’t have to wear a mask in the restaurant or the bar because of course you’re going to drink I assume, water, whatever it is, and you can’t drink it through the mask.
So my point is is that we’ve kind of defied common sense, but it’s so connected to this issue of personal responsibility. And I’ve said, ‘Look, people have to be personally responsible for their well being, this is what they’re about. And if we take away their right to make those decisions, what are we doing in the long run. What did we do for several months by closing all this stuff? We put everybody inside.’
And you know, I wish we could call a timeout for all the tourists and just say, ‘Hey, we don’t need all of you here, just a few of you come this time because we don’t want if you’re bringing it to our community.’
Obviously we can’t do that very well. We tried it and it didn’t work well and we’re balancing. People are going broke, they’re losing their businesses, they have no income and we’re saying, ‘Yeah, but it’s all for the right cause.’ And so we’re literally destroying our economy with no gradual plan in place early enough as far as I’m concerned. Now, that’s purely my opinion on the whole thing with the COVID. I support both sides of it but like I said, I think when we get away from making people hold themselves personally responsible, we’re failing them. And if it’s that issue, then it’s the criminal issue, it’s everything else.
And when are we going to stop this? When are we going to stop letting people take over neighborhoods and communities? Unbelievable. I said, ‘Look, you know what, any of the cities have that happen, guess what, the sheriff’s coming to town with the posse. It’s not going to happen.’
I just don’t think that you can allow that type of lawless behavior to go on. You have to be reasonable. Being reasonable and allowing them to say how they feel, exercise their right, I’m with you, because no matter what it is, no matter what point you’re arguing, you have a right and we got to honor that. And I think we do.
But when you start talking about damaging and hurting, killing people and their businesses, I can’t support that. And I cant believe that we’ve gotten this far and said, ‘Yeah, but they have a good reason.’Oh okay, so if your business gets burned down, it was a good reason, they wanted to do it. Doesn’t make sense.
And the last thing I’ll say before questions, I’m sure I’m way over. OK, I just wanted to mention just something about our budget.
Obviously this whole thing to defund the police is a whole bunch of garbage. You’re even seeing the stricken neighborhoods in large metropolitan areas, people stand up against it and they’re the ones that the cause is supporting. And they’re standing up and saying, ‘This is ridiculous, you can’t do this. We will have no protection.’
And it’s already proven every day in the news with the shootings are going on and everything else that’s going on that’s a bad idea. So, and I think it’s going to backfire, I think it’s already starting to do it.
And it’s unfortunate because the result is going to be people like you being killed because of the lack of ability to protect.
So I’m just going to say about our budget, we started budget hearings in June right in the heat of all this, when that movement was the biggest. And we’ve taken some serious hits from COVID, the county has, just as all the businesses have, just as you individually have.
But they have to make cuts. But the message that people are trying to say is it’s defund the police. And I can tell you there are supervisors, I originally was looking at over a $2 million budget cut, and they got it down to about $500,000 which is very manageable, which will not lose any services.
But I’ll tell you what, there was a big difference between that and the over $2 million cut. And four of the five, one wasn’t present, four of the five supervisors all unanimously agreed that I shouldn’t, we shouldn’t take that cut. We can’t take that cut. And I know that some of you realize that we have supervisors that are more friendly to this than others, but to get four — and I think if the fifth would have been there, it would have gone that way too because the message was too strong — but I was pretty happy to walk out of there.
And it’s not that there’s not more (cuts) coming, and there is going to be until we get back on our feet, but we’re trying to manage it the best we can. And I think it’s going to be challenging over the next year. And hopefully we can keep things open to some degree that is moving the economy forward because that’s what we’re going to need.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 9:50 AM with the headline "California sheriff condemns ‘violent protests,’ downplays masks in Tea Party talk."
